About Me

Belkis was born in Guantánamo, Cuba. She studied Humanities in la Universidad de Oriente. In 1967 she married Cuban poet Heberto Padilla. Though initially a supporter of the Castro Revolution, Belkis later became a censor critic of his regime. She was jailed with Padilla in 1971 charged with "subversive writing", It was known later as the "Padilla affair". She went into exile in the United States with her little son in 1979, until the Cuban goverment authorized him to leave Cuba. She founded Linden Lane Magazine, a review of Latin American and North American writers in 1982. And in 1996, La Casa
Azul.
Libros publicados:
El viento en la pared,1962.
Los alucinados,1963.
Tiempos de sol,1963.
Cartas a Ana Frank,1966.
El clavel y la rosa: biografía de Juana Borrero, 1984.
Woman on the Front Lines. (Includes Juego de damas y El patio de mi casa . Trans. Pamela Carmell). Greensboro: Unicorn Press, Inc., 1987.
Elvis. The Unquiet Grave or the True Story of Jon Burrows, 1994, Juego de damas, 2002 and La otra mejilla, Ediciones Lunáticas ZV, Paris, 2008. In 2011, Linden Lane Press published her nook of poems Los poemas de la mujer de Lot.

Padilla Cigar Company’s New Factory on Calle Ocho in Miami’s Little Havana to Open to the Public on Saturday, October 11, 2008

September– Miami, Florida – Padilla Cigar Company, creators of premier ultra premium boutique cigars today announced that on Saturday, October 11, 2008, its new factory and cigar lounge, Fabrica de Tabacos Padilla will open its doors to the public. Padilla Cigars will host a gala event that day to celebrate the factory’s grand opening Fabrica de Tabacos Padilla is located on Calle Ocho in Miami’s historic Little Havana at 1501 SW 8th Street, Miami FL 33135. “This is the culmination of a dream for my family and myself,” said Ernesto Padilla, president of Padilla Cigars. “My family’s history and tradition in the tobacco business will now be reborn right in the heart of the Cuban-American community.

”The grand opening gala will include cigar rolling demonstrations, food and drink and meet and greets with other cigar luminaries including Ernesto Perez-Carrillo of La Gloria Cubana, Jose Oliva, Jr. of Oliva Cigars and Jonathan Drew of Drew Estates. There will also be special events for visiting tobacconists including tours of Calle Ocho and other cigar factories in the area.The new factory represents a quantum leap forward for Padilla Cigar Company. Fabrica de Tabacos Padilla will be the home to ten Cuban rollers and will produce 1,500 cigars a day. This means blending, production and quality control of several of Padilla’s lines now comes in house.“The new factory gives us something we have not had before, total control over production of our cigars,” continued Padilla. “We will now be able to give our consumers the best possible cigar we can and we should be able to deliver those cigars in greater quantities than ever before. We will also be able to put together new blends and bring them to market much quicker than before.”Three Padilla lines – Padilla Signature 1932 (Rated 90+ in Cigar Aficionado, Ranked in Cigar Aficionado’s Top 25 2006, 2007), Padilla Miami (Rated 90+ in CA, Ranked in CA’s Top 25 2005) and Padilla Series 1948 (Rated 90+ in CA) – will be rolled by Padilla’s own master rollers. In addition, Fabrica de Tabacos Padilla will create special edition Padilla cigars and ultra premium blends that will only be made in Miami.Besides being a cigar factory, the new location will also serve as destination for both cigar lovers and those curious about the Cuban tradition of cigar making. The factory will house a cigar lounge and retail store that will not only feature Padilla cigars, but cigars from other Cuban families with ties to Little Havana including Padron and La Gloria Cubana.“We really want people to come experience the true Cuban tradition of cigar making,” said Padilla. “Our new factory will really bring a piece of Cuba to cigars smokers.”Fabrica de Tabacos Padilla differs from other cigar factories because visitors will be able to see the entire cigar making process rather than just cigar rolling. In the same area as the rollers will be people sorting, processing and bunching tobacco. The factory also features an aging area capable of storing 50,000 cigars. The rollers will also be using traditional Cuban rolling techniques which differ from other cigar rolling regions. The differences in rolling styles do make a difference in the finished product.

For more information about the grand opening gala, please feel free to call Padilla Cigars at 305.362.8773. Tobacconists can call email Tim Wong (tim@padillacigars dot com) for retailer related events.About Padilla Cigar CompanyFounded in 2003, Padilla Cigar Company has already earned many accolades for its premier boutique cigars. All of Padilla Cigars’ five lines have earned 90+ ratings in Cigar Aficionado. Padilla has also had cigars appear on Cigar Aficionado’s Top 25 Cigars list for 2005, 2006 and 2007. Padilla Cigars are manufactured at Fabrica de Tabacos Padilla – the company’s factory and cigar lounge in Miami’s Little Havana.For more information on Padilla Cigar Company’s products or Fabrica de Tabacos Padilla, please visit www.padillacigars.com.